Report: Microsoft going to production with 7-inch “Xbox Surface”

Gaming device would work in conjunction with next-generation Xbox console

When Microsoft first revealed its Surface tablet back in June, many in the rumor mill were expecting the company to reveal a gaming-focused "Xbox Surface," based on leaked documents pointing to such a tablet. Those rumors have resurfaced again, with The Verge reporting today that Microsoft is working on a final implementation of a 7-inch tablet tuned for gaming.

The Verge's unnamed source says the previously leaked specs for the tablet were indeed accurate, meaning the system would include a 7-inch, 1280×720 screen, 288MB of RAM, and a "custom IBM engine for scale-out workloads." Those specs could be altered to allow for different models independent of one specific hardware architecture, however.

The tablet will supposedly run a small Windows kernel rather than the full version of Windows that the 10-inch Surface tablet uses, and will work in conjunction with a "stationary computing device" that could be a next-generation Xbox, as outlined in another leaked Microsoft document from the summer. The Verge claims that the full console will be built by contract manufacturers like Pegatron and Foxconn, but that the tablet will be built by the same secret manufacturing process used for the Surface. The Xbox tablet would be released in 2013, ahead of a next-generation console.

If true, a branded Xbox Tablet might serve as a cheaper, entry-level way into Microsoft's set of SmartGlass features, which extends the Xbox 360 gaming experience to full-fledged Windows 8 and Android tablets, and will soon also work on iOS devices as well. By marketing an Xbox Tablet as a companion gaming device for the home console, rather than a more full-fledged computing tablet, it could help fill a low-end niche in the company's tablet line-up.

"The tablet will supposedly run a small Windows kernel rather than the full version of Windows that the 10-inch Surface tablet uses,"

Is this supposed to be an actual custom kernel, or more like WP8 (standard win8 kernel at the bottom; but a much abbreviated software stack on top)? Having finally given wince the boot on the phone I'd hate to see it immediately come back on another mainstream device.

Sweet. So we could have Surface RT, which runs Windows Store apps - well, sort of, runs most, but not all. Oh, it has a desktop as well - except it can only run the Office 2013 installed and nothing else despite looking exactly like the desktop you have on your Windows8 system at home.

Then we'll have Surface Pro, which runs all Windows Store apps, but also desktop apps. Yes, like RT it will run Office 2013, but much more.

So in Surface Pro, and to some extent Surface RT you have the Xbox gaming portal, which points you to Xbox Games for Windows which will run (but again, not all for RT - for example Solitaire does not run on RT, despite being built by MS and free) - but sometimes just Xbox games which you can't run on your PC.

Now, we'll add Xbox Surface games, which will only run on this Xbox Surface, but not Surface RT or Surface Pro or Windows 8.

Gee, not a clusterfuck at all. Good thing all this "unification" is going on.

That's... kind of a crappy tablet. Especially when you compare it to the nexus 7. It'd have to be extremely cheap (as in less then $100) to be viable, and even then I see no reason to buy one vs a Nexus.

288 MB of RAM? That'd be a 256 MB chip and a 32 MB one. That 32 MB chip has to have some sort of special purpose. Either way, bit of an odd inclusion.

My guess is that the 32 MB is for video. The 360 itself has 512 MB of main memory and 10 MB of video memory. I wonder if this thing going to run any games itself or is it more like a controller to compete with the WiiU?

288 MB of RAM? That'd be a 256 MB chip and a 32 MB one. That 32 MB chip has to have some sort of special purpose. Either way, bit of an odd inclusion.

My guess is that the 32 MB is for video. The 360 itself has 512 MB of main memory and 10 MB of video memory. I wonder if this thing going to run any games itself or is it more like a controller to compete with the WiiU?

That's exactly the first thing that came to my mind. I was surprised that took so long for someone to come up with that.

Sweet. So we could have Surface RT, which runs Windows Store apps - well, sort of, runs most, but not all. Oh, it has a desktop as well - except it can only run the Office 2013 installed and nothing else despite looking exactly like the desktop you have on your Windows8 system at home.

Then we'll have Surface Pro, which runs all Windows Store apps, but also desktop apps. Yes, like RT it will run Office 2013, but much more.

So in Surface Pro, and to some extent Surface RT you have the Xbox gaming portal, which points you to Xbox Games for Windows which will run (but again, not all for RT - for example Solitaire does not run on RT, despite being built by MS and free) - but sometimes just Xbox games which you can't run on your PC.

Now, we'll add Xbox Surface games, which will only run on this Xbox Surface, but not Surface RT or Surface Pro or Windows 8.

Gee, not a clusterfuck at all. Good thing all this "unification" is going on.

I hate to agree with you, but the sad truth is that with what we know now, this unification isn't going so well. I guess time will tell, and we'll see if they can pull it together with some pieces we haven't yet seen.

That's part of the "stationary computing device" aka console spec; the 288 MB number is above for the "tablet computing device".

Looking at the console specs I have to WTF at the 10k SCSI harddrive. Price premiums for that category of device make not going SSD insane. NTM high RPM drives are loud which you don't want when using it to watch youtube.

They do indeed. Obviously I only read this article which for some reason only talks about the controller and makes no mention of the accompanying base station.

5GB is not bad at all given how cheap they will have to sell these things. It would be nice to see them surpass PCs in capability, further pushing the gaming envelope. But, I doubt we will see consoles do that ever again.

288 MB of RAM? That'd be a 256 MB chip and a 32 MB one. That 32 MB chip has to have some sort of special purpose. Either way, bit of an odd inclusion.

My guess is that the 32 MB is for video. The 360 itself has 512 MB of main memory and 10 MB of video memory. I wonder if this thing going to run any games itself or is it more like a controller to compete with the WiiU?

That makes sense. It's just strange to lump it in with the main system RAM then if it's dedicated video RAM.

The specs are pulled from an old leaked document that go hand in hand with the specs for, presumably, a standalone Xbox successor. It definitely looks like a Wii U style setup.

That's part of the "stationary computing device" aka console spec; the 288 MB number is above for the "tablet computing device".

Looking at the console specs I have to WTF at the 10k SCSI harddrive. Price premiums for that category of device make not going SSD insane. NTM high RPM drives are loud which you don't want when using it to watch youtube.

Shit, you're right. But in this case this is not really a tablet, more like a wee-u like controller on steroids, isn't it? (at, I would expect, Kinect-level price).

This is going to have to be dirt cheap (with the competing $200 Nexus 7 out there and who knows what else by the time the Xbox Surface is released) or have some seriously compelling exclusive features. On the other hand it would be a smart move if it just comes bundled with every next gen Xbox without significantly impacting the overall price.

288 MB of RAM? That'd be a 256 MB chip and a 32 MB one. That 32 MB chip has to have some sort of special purpose. Either way, bit of an odd inclusion.

My guess is that the 32 MB is for video. The 360 itself has 512 MB of main memory and 10 MB of video memory. I wonder if this thing going to run any games itself or is it more like a controller to compete with the WiiU?

That makes sense. It's just strange to lump it in with the main system RAM then if it's dedicated video RAM.

The specs are pulled from an old leaked document that go hand in hand with the specs for, presumably, a standalone Xbox successor. It definitely looks like a Wii U style setup.

Marketing would rather have one bigger number than two smaller ones. Also, the specs look like they're using the same type of ram for system and video purposes; 256/32 and 4gb/1gb(?) could be standard/default settings with game devs being able to tweak the splits if needed.

I don't exactly have a good feeling about this one. My instincts are screaming that it won't run most RT apps even if they LET you, based on the specs. This HAS to be a limited X-Box Companion.

256MB of main RAM and 32MB of video RAM would be sufficient to make SmartGlass function but would be seriously limited for gaming. Even with a slimmed kernel, I couldn't see on-tablet games working terribly well on it in the medium term, much less the long term. The 360 has 512MB of RAM and runs into serious problems right now. A tablet can't be expected to play Halo 3, but there's always been a pattern of handhelds being only about a generation behind when they succeed.

Well, we know SmartGlass uses HTML5/Javascript-- and the tablet/PC/phone needs to connect to the X-Box THROUGH XBL. Latency nightmares and HTML UI limitations aside, that puts an upper bound on what you can do with SmartGlass AND puts a pretty low requirement on what you need to actually make it functional on a device

So, let's say that it does gaming probably fairly poorly but will act as a decent SmartGlass device. Alright, that's fine, but SmartGlass wouldn't be enough reason by itself to do a tablet like this. I'd say media playback-- movies and music. They're definitely going to be throwing the X-Box media shopping into this thing.

So, a SmartGlass/Zune hybrid tablet. It'd have to be pretty cheap to have a shot against Android tablets since the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire are likely going to be significantly stronger in specs at a probably comparable price.

...it could help fill a low-end niche in the company's tablet line-up.

Yes becuase that is the lowest end of the lowest end right now, let alone next year when it will be entering the core at the center of the earth.

If anything of console peripherals that have passed has something to say of the future, it will be expensive compared to the specs to cost ratio of other technological offerings of the time if sold on its own, that's closed systems for you.

Is it merely a controller? Might be passable if it has that one singular purpose, anything else and it will be a complete joke if it is not upgradable over the course of these 10 year cycles they love talking about lately. I can just smell all these annoying "app" purchases they are trying to stuff into everything nowadays, but then what are you going to do with 288 Mb of RAM and 32MB of video RAM ? That can't even run most current android games, the only solution would be it could stream games over Wi-Fi from the console to the tablet. I can see it being used as a device to facilitate selling you things though (yay), with pretty pictures and FMV accompanying the products.

If it is going to be used for anything more then seeing your gamerscore while you play and actual control, that control needs to be superb so even though they are skimping on the RAM the touch screen needs to be of high quality, and console peripherals are also used a lot more and more strenuously, putting even more demands on.

This "tablet" with "custom IBM engine for scale-out workloads" would work like an On-Live terminal box: it would handle user I/O and rendering, and would unload the heavy lifting to the main console.

A bunch of interesting scenarios become possible, for example:- multi-player gaming, with several "terminals" connected at the same time- multi-session use, with several people using the console at the same time doing different things ( son plays Forza on his "tablet", doughter listens to some music on hers)- central unit acting like a central DVR and content streamer for a "Cloud TV" platfrom (http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/6/36085 ... b-listings) - hence a big(gish) spinning drive in the central unit.

Sweet. So we could have Surface RT, which runs Windows Store apps - well, sort of, runs most, but not all. Oh, it has a desktop as well - except it can only run the Office 2013 installed and nothing else despite looking exactly like the desktop you have on your Windows8 system at home.

Then we'll have Surface Pro, which runs all Windows Store apps, but also desktop apps. Yes, like RT it will run Office 2013, but much more.

So in Surface Pro, and to some extent Surface RT you have the Xbox gaming portal, which points you to Xbox Games for Windows which will run (but again, not all for RT - for example Solitaire does not run on RT, despite being built by MS and free) - but sometimes just Xbox games which you can't run on your PC.

Now, we'll add Xbox Surface games, which will only run on this Xbox Surface, but not Surface RT or Surface Pro or Windows 8.

Gee, not a clusterfuck at all. Good thing all this "unification" is going on.

I think it's a bit premature to condemn the cross-compatibility of a piece of vaporware that hasn't even been announced yet. If it turns out that your assumptions are all correct, by all means go ahead. But it's also entirely possible that Xbox Surface games will run on anything that runs RT applications (Surface RT and Pro, Windows 8). Any claim either way, at this early point, is just knee-jerk assumptions by people who should know better.

If true, a branded Xbox Tablet might serve as a cheaper, entry-level way into Microsoft's set of SmartGlass features, which extends the Xbox 360 gaming experience to full-fledged Windows 8 and Android tablets, and will soon also work on iOS devices as well. By marketing an Xbox Tablet as a companion gaming device for the home console, rather than a more full-fledged computing tablet, it could help fill a low-end niche in the company's tablet line-up.

And so basically the rumors are now that M$ is going to take a cue from Nintendo on their next gaming consoles ? Where's the Sony speculation for the PS4 so we can compare ?

I hate to agree with you, but the sad truth is that with what we know now, this unification isn't going so well. I guess time will tell, and we'll see if they can pull it together with some pieces we haven't yet seen.

Let's give it more then 1 week before declaring the 3-screens strategy dead?

You know, if this works as a controller, it might make for some interesting new dimensions for multiplayer, especially if it also integrates with PC games. Of course, it's a touchscreen device, so that potential is fairly limited even compared to the WiiU controller, but still...

This is going to have to be dirt cheap (with the competing $200 Nexus 7 out there and who knows what else by the time the Xbox Surface is released) or have some seriously compelling exclusive features.

People assumed as much about SurfaceRT as well. Neither aspect came true.

People assumed as much about SurfaceRT as well. Neither aspect came true.

If you read the source Verge article it reveals this as a mere game controller that accompanies the actual XBOX. Would you spend $200 on a controller? It sounds like it might have separate games it can run on its own, which would help justify the cost. But, even then I cannot see them trying to sell it for more than a 3DS.

People assumed as much about SurfaceRT as well. Neither aspect came true.

If you read the source Verge article it reveals this as a mere game controller that accompanies the actual XBOX. Would you spend $200 on a controller? It sounds like it might have separate games it can run on its own, which would help justify the cost. But, even then I cannot see them trying to sell it for more than a 3DS.

I don't believe for a second this is simply a game controller. It's a full on gaming tablet.

This might work well as a $99 remote streaming device tied to an Xbox-Next, for watching videos, listening to music, etc. away from the TV.

It does have limits though: if it's using the CPU and net connection of the Xbox (to fetch and decode content) it might not work during gaming or video watching on the Xbox itself, and the xbox must be powered on all the time it's in use.

So the idea of one person playing a game while another watches Netflix on the treadmill with this probably won't happen.

That's... kind of a crappy tablet. Especially when you compare it to the nexus 7. It'd have to be extremely cheap (as in less then $100) to be viable, and even then I see no reason to buy one vs a Nexus.

Exactly. What is the thinking here? Damn, there is a HUGE pool of people out there who would like to buy a tablet, but they would rather buy something barely functional than pay $200 for something that works a whole lot better? Let's target them and get rich!

These specs sound like something you'd expect from a company like Pantech targeting the Indian market at the absolute lowest price possible, not from a tier one company targeting the US.

Kyle Orland / Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area.